STAND UP TO CANCER AT UNION CHAPEL FEBRUARY 3rd 2017 WITH LAURA MVULA, LONDON CONTEMPORARY VOICES, THE BEACH AND MORE

By Sarah/14 Dec 2016/Comments Off on STAND UP TO CANCER AT UNION CHAPEL FEBRUARY 3rd 2017 WITH LAURA MVULA, LONDON CONTEMPORARY VOICES, THE BEACH AND MORE

Friday 3rd February 2017 sees the return of Stand Up To Cancer at Union Chapel. Laura Mvula, British singer songwriter, two time Mercury Prize nominee and two time MOBO award winner, will headline this very special music event with an exclusive, stripped-back performance alongside a whole host of incredible music talent including London Contemporary Voices, The Beach, Passport To Stockholm and a special guest yet to be announced. Esteemed TV and radio presenter Edith Bowman joins once again as compere for the evening.

Taking place at the iconic Union Chapel, London, this celebration of fantastic musical talent is all with one intention, to raise funds for the campaign’s rebellion against cancer. Stand Up To Cancer is a joint national fundraising campaign from Cancer Research UK and Channel 4. Launched in the UK in 2012, more than £38 million has been raised in the UK, supporting more than 30 clinical trials and projects. The event takes place on the eve of World Cancer Day, raising awareness of cancer and funds for treatments.

Performances on the night come from…

Laura Mvula
Growing up in Birmingham, Mvula first sang in church and later with all female acapella group Black Voices. By 2008 she had formed and was composing for her own jazz/neo-soul outfit Judyshouse. Mvula has also directed various choirs. She is a graduate of the Birmingham Conservatoire and holds a degree in composition.

Her debut album, Sing to the Moon was released in 2013 and garnered multiple award nominations and critical acclaim. Discussing her follow-up, 2016 album The Dreaming Room, the UK Guardian described how Mvula “pulls the listener along with her through the most serpentine songs: however, winding their routes, the melodies are almost always beautiful; however much the musical scenery shifts, it is always striking.” Mvula’s songs explore identity, personal dilemmas and social issues. About her hit, Phenomenal Woman, inspired by Maya Angelou she told the UK Independent: “I try and depend a lot on the women that I surround myself with, the women that through their own vulnerability and ridiculous strength are still moving mountains and doing extraordinary things every day.”

London Contemporary Voices
London Contemporary Voices is London’s leading alternative choir. The y have worked with over 7 Grammy-winning artists and over 50 others including Imogen Heap, Alt-J, Laura Mvula, Basement Jaxx, James Bay and Sam Smith. The choir appeared on Later with Jools Holland alongside Alt-J and featured on the Abbey Road Metropole Orkest version of Laura Mvula’s critically acclaimed album Sing to the Moon.

Most recently, the choir recorded with Imogen Heap for the new Harry Potter stage play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and features on the new Elbow record Little Fictions due for release in Feb 2017. Some of the choir’s sopranos recorded with Radiohead for their Mercury Nominated album A Moon Shaped Pool as part of a specially put together choir by London Contemporary Orchestra. Known for its legendary warehouse parties, magical lantern-lit shows in dilapidated buildings and appearances at Burberry Fashion shows, LCV is not only a truly boundary-breaking choir but also a thriving collective of London’s most unique vocalists. More than just a choir; expect stunning soloists to step forward, each one an artist in their own right.

The Beach
It’s been a great year for 24 year old singer-songwriter The Beach. After spending two years relentlessly playing open mic nights, The Beach, aka George Morgan, was finally discovered after he uploaded a video of himself singing to YouTube. His tracks, including singles ‘Thieves’, ‘From Above’ and ‘Maybe’, have so far had over 7 million streams. He’s been on tour supporting the likes of James Bay, Tom Odell and Kodaline and his last single ‘Geronimo’ was accompanied by a glorious video featuring the legendary cliff-divers of Acapulco https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCXtD4nvMO4. He took part in the incredible Stand Up To Cancer with YouTube marathon in October 2016. The Beach has a new single due in January in preparation for the release of his debut album in 2017.

Passport To Stockholm
Since their debut release last summer, Passport To Stockholm have been touring heavily, building on the momentum of ‘All at Once’ and it’s immediate pop hooks with the more pastoral ‘Better Days’, nudging the band into the top 100 on the CMJ chart and top 30 most viral US Spotify (top 10 UK). Picking up fans from their busy touring schedule. Hot off the back of hitting 1 million streams on Spotify as well as clocking up countless BBC Introducing “track of the days”, the band completed a 10 date UK tour supporting Canadian artist Ben Caplan in November, playing the Union Chapel along the way.

The 2017 show follows on from the success of last year’s event at Union Chapel, which took place in February 2016 which raised vital funds for Stand Up To Cancer and featured performances from Kodaline, James Morrison, Seafret, Dagny and Daniel James.

Claire Rowney, Director of Stand Up To Cancer, said: “1 in 2 of us will get cancer in our lifetime and that statistic is the driving force behind Stand Up To Cancer and our ambition to beat cancer sooner. We’re hugely grateful to this stellar line-up of artists for supporting our rebellion against the disease – we simply couldn’t do it without them. All the profits from the gig will go directly towards funding life-saving research that will bring new treatments to patients sooner and save more lives, more quickly.”